Jacob has brought himself into a little word explosion just lately... he's still not exactly verbal as far as kids go, but we went for a long time without a single word at all, so I'll take what I can get! He reliably says "mama," "key" (for his Kitty, whom he's only had for a month but who already smells rank and disgusting like a proper lovey... I'll be doing laundry tonight...), "go," "shoes," "train," and "Mimi" (for Emily).

He also has a "whoooaaaaa" sound, which is reserved for answering the phone. Or the remote control. Or Willem's calculator. Or a stapler. Or the computer mouse. Or a sock.

He's big on animal sounds, too, though they all end up sounding the same - vaguely ducklike. Certainly, all birds in his world say "waaaaat, waaaat." As do cats, dogs, hippos, mice, squirrels and buffaloes.

It's great fun to watch him play headgames with Willem right now, too. We've heard him - Jacob - say "dada" lots of times, but just lately he WILL NOT say it. Instead, we'll ask, "Can you say Dada?" And Jacob says, very smugly and with a little poo-eating grin, "Mama." "No, Dada." "Mama." The wee beast.

Jacob's also signing quite a bit, still. Cute story from the other week...Willem had made cookies the night before, and they were still on their cookie sheet in the morning. So he got Jacob up, and Jacob immediately saw the cookies and started his grunt-and-point routine.Willem said, "Do you want cookies?" Grunting and pointing from Jacob."Jacob, how do you say cookie?" Blank stare, and some grunting and wiggling."Jacob, cookie?" GRUNT."Jacob, can you say please?" The sign for please is to rub the hand on one's chest in a circular fashion. Jacob started rubbing his entire torso with both hands, with enough enthusiasm that we thought he might set himself on fire.He got his cookie.

Emily's cute and precious, too. Just no new stories for her, at the moment.

I knit. It's an obsession, and I am besotted. But I know not everyone is besotted, and this is not the right place to showcase my projects and, well, natter. So I've gathered up my knitting stuff and put it in its place. It's at http://knittingnattering.blogspot.com, and I'd love the company.